I hope to add another post later today, but I want to be sure I manage to at least get something up in support of prematurity awareness day. One thing I hope to accomplish with this blog is to educate people about prematurity and some of the consequences that premature babies deal with the first years of their life. It is truly a miracle that so many premature babies are able to live normal lives after fighting to hard just to survive their first days.
The most important thing I've learned about premature babies is that coming home from the hospital is not the end of being careful. They have up to three years to catch up on all their developmental goals, including fully developing their immune system. When you see any baby, premature or not, remember that they are fragile and wash your hands before touching them! It amazes me how many people think it is OK to come up and touch the kids when we are at the doctor's office. I probably deal with it more than the average mom because we are quite a sight but it's true for everyone.
Thanks everybody!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Back to reality
Little miss thing in her Halloween outfit
Papa Ben holding Mikey
Gran holding Ben
Three peas in a pod
Ben, Delia and Mikey with the presents sent by Irish cousins
The family dressed up for Halloween - no comments on the size of my rear!
Happy Halloween! Mikey and Ben as peas, Delia as a little flower
Ben is so cute when he is mad!
More cute pea pods
Delia loves her daddy :)
Wow, it's been a long time since I updated this blog. Let's see, what's happened since I last wrote....lots and lots more of the same. Overall everyone is doing great, no real problems to speak of. We just don't have this sleeping thing down yet.
If we have pacifiers we can sleep just fine, but if it falls out of our mouth, heaven help us. We might as well start pulling out toenails with a pliers. What's so great about the darn things? I've tried them several times, and they don't seem that great to me. I guess I'd feel differently if I was a baby though.
We had several visitors in the past weeks, some friends from work in STL and CGAM, and of course Grandma Maggie. Our helpers have been fantastic too, they take care of bottle washing, bottle prep for the night and daycare, and laundry, plus help with a feed and some cuddling. We're very lucky to have found the folks we did.
Everyone's personality is developing more and more each day. Benjamin has become our chunky monkey, hubba bubba, growing boy. As of last Friday he was 9 lb 13 oz, almost ten pounds! He's just big all over, although he inherited stubby legs from his dad because all his pants are too long. When it's time to eat, boy he'll let you know. And if he gets hungry he'll let you know that too. I think he may be having some gas issues, because sometimes we try to give him a little extra and it doesn't really seem to make a difference, but he doesn't always need to make extra burps either. Our NICU nurse friends are coming to visit this week, so maybe they'll be able to help us solve the mystery.
Delia continues to be a little diva. Her cry gets more shrill and high pitched each and every day, and she is learning how to turn it off and on faster too. It's almost like there is a little button on her back, that when she lays down it gets pressed in and makes her scream. As soon as you pick her up and the button pops back out, instant silence. She has added tears for some extra flair too, which tugged at my heartstrings the first few times but now I'm not so sure it isn't just a ploy for more attention. She's had to cry a few times when I was elbow deep in poo, or trying to take a shower or whatnot, and she does eventually quit, but I'm afraid of doing permanent damage so I continue to indulge her.
As if she knows her powers are starting to fade, she has become quite the little cuddle bug. She loves to bury her face in our necks, and grab at us with her tiny little hands. It really is quite sweet and I"ve decided that she really does love us, that this part isn't just a trick to control us.
Michael is....well, he's Michael. The happiest damn kid you ever saw one minute, hysterical the next. And he is the king of facial expressions. Happy means eyes wide open, almost popping out of his head, and a beautiful smile. Sad means lower lip pouted out, face scrunched, tears a-flowin'. He is truly pitiful. But it's hard to get mad at him because he is so damn cute. When he's fighting sleep he makes the funniest faces too, his mouth kind of hangs open and his eyes flutter like he's lifting the weight of the world every time his eyelids fly open. WHen he gets mad, he accidentally blows raspberries and scares himself.
We had a terrific photo session a couple weekends ago with Aunt Shannon, owner of Phases Photography. After four hours of picture taking, we came out with some really great nakey pictures, as well as a cute family photo. I'll post some when they are available.
Today was my first day back at work since June 22. Boy did it feel good to be back. Not only to have adult interaction, but also because of the amazing people I work with. Nobody wanted to throw projects at me, nobody made comments about how I was late or how long I was off. Everyone was genuinely glad to have me back. It is so rare to find a group that truly appreciates your contributions and values your friendship. I'm so glad that my job is so awesome, it made leaving the kids at daycare that much easier.
Four hours later and I still haven't finished typing this! But my eyelids are getting heavy so there Will be more to come soon.
Weight update - as of Friday Oct 29
Ben 9 lb 13 oz
Michael 9 lb 0 oz
Delia 8 lb 10 oz
Thursday, October 21, 2010
My favorite things
We had a really good night last night, everyone slept when they were supposed to and there was minimal fussing, so I'm cautiously optimistic that we may have turned a corner. Or at least we'll start to have good nights more than once a week!
I was thinking the other day about all the cute things each baby does that I want to remember, so I figured I better make a list. Having babies has made me lose my mind in more ways than one, so I can barely remember who I've fed let alone try to remember something for more than a day! So here goes:
Ben: the pirate eye (when he squints one shut and leaves one eye open); sticky up hair all the time; wrinkled brow and confused look he gets when you ask him a question; pulling blankets or his shirt up close to his face like he's hiding when he sleeps; dark serous eyes; the teeny tiny baby sighs he makes when he's sleeping; heavy heavy eyelids that fight to stay open towards the end of a bottle.
Delia: the way she reaches out to touch Ethan's goatee in total awe; cute way she makes a perfect little O with her mouth; the way she gets so frustrated when she wants to reach out and touch something and she knocks it away instead; the way she burrows her head into your shoulder when you hold her; gummy smiles.
Michael: His most pitiful crying face; rooting everywhere, like my shoulder, Ethan's face, and other weird places; crazy eyes; sticking his tongue out like a little lizard; throwing his arms up in excitement for no reason at all; trying to claw his eyes out when he eats.
And here are some pictures of general adorableness.
I was thinking the other day about all the cute things each baby does that I want to remember, so I figured I better make a list. Having babies has made me lose my mind in more ways than one, so I can barely remember who I've fed let alone try to remember something for more than a day! So here goes:
Ben: the pirate eye (when he squints one shut and leaves one eye open); sticky up hair all the time; wrinkled brow and confused look he gets when you ask him a question; pulling blankets or his shirt up close to his face like he's hiding when he sleeps; dark serous eyes; the teeny tiny baby sighs he makes when he's sleeping; heavy heavy eyelids that fight to stay open towards the end of a bottle.
Delia: the way she reaches out to touch Ethan's goatee in total awe; cute way she makes a perfect little O with her mouth; the way she gets so frustrated when she wants to reach out and touch something and she knocks it away instead; the way she burrows her head into your shoulder when you hold her; gummy smiles.
Michael: His most pitiful crying face; rooting everywhere, like my shoulder, Ethan's face, and other weird places; crazy eyes; sticking his tongue out like a little lizard; throwing his arms up in excitement for no reason at all; trying to claw his eyes out when he eats.
And here are some pictures of general adorableness.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Life at home
One of my helpers is here to replace dropped binkies, so I actually have a few minutes that I can update this darn thing! Hopefully. I've started to type several times and multiple babies have started screaming, so it may not work as I had hoped.
Life at home with all three is.....interesting.....to say the least. It's completely amazing to have them all here, to be able to lay them next to each other, play with them, roam about the house without having to worry about the wire from a monitor. But of course, we terribly miss all the extra hands from the hospital! Not just because they are helpers, but also because they are our friends :)
Everyone is still on a three hour feeding schedule, which is rough, but so far we are surviving. At night we do the 10PM feed together, then I do 1AM and Ethan does 4AM. Ideally we each have a five hour chunk to sleep, if everyone is quiet. But of course they are not. The leading contenders for fuss-bucket of the year are Michael and Delia for sure, but Ben has his moments, usually when he still has a burp stuck in there.
When it's only one or the other fussing, it's manageable. I can lay in the recliner with someone on my chest and we both sleep well. But when more than one fusses, it is tough to calm everyone alone. If we had an extra set of hands 24/7 and everyone could be held all the time we'd be golden. Of course that's not an option, so we have to rotate and do the best we can to get everyone quiet and happy at the same time. Much easier said than done.
By the way, have I mentioned that I have terrible hot flashes still? I guess the breastfeeding is keeping those crazy hormones running rampant. Hot flashes SUCK. Menopause is gonna be awful. But I digress.
Friday night was by far the worst we've had so far. Everyone was fussy all night long. I didn't even attempt to close my eyes until 5AM. And as the hours tick by on the clock, I start to think about how much sleep I'm not getting, and start to panic about how tired I'll be the next day, and get more worked up, which makes the baby worked up, and the vicious cycle ends with us both in tears. Arg.
It hasn't been that bad again since, just the one person fussing at a time. But it was enough to make me decide to reach out for more help. I've already got a coworker's college aged daughter coming Monday and Tuesday nights to help out, and someone from church on Thursday nights. It looks like a neighbor is going to take Sunday nights, and our niece Wednesdays. That way we'll have someone to catch us up on dishes, laundry, de-cluttering, and to make the night time bottles, help feed, etc. A third set of hands makes a huge difference, or allows one of us to get to bed earlier.
We're working on a schedule for the kids, hoping that will help with night time sleeping. It's so hard to keep them on schedule though, because if someone is extra fussy or we have visitors or a doctor appointment or anything, we start someone late and it trickles down from there. We're still trying to stick to it as much as we can, hopefully they will grow into it.
I need to start getting up every day and practicing getting the babies in the car and out the door, but I'm too tired to right now. I go back to work November 1, so I better figure something out soon :) My one day at a time mentality is not helping my motivation. Oh well.
That's about it for now, there is much more to tell but my eyes are getting terribly heavy so I'm going to attempt to sleep.
Please continue to pray for us, we need strength and patience to make this journey successful. Thank you so so much!
Life at home with all three is.....interesting.....to say the least. It's completely amazing to have them all here, to be able to lay them next to each other, play with them, roam about the house without having to worry about the wire from a monitor. But of course, we terribly miss all the extra hands from the hospital! Not just because they are helpers, but also because they are our friends :)
Everyone is still on a three hour feeding schedule, which is rough, but so far we are surviving. At night we do the 10PM feed together, then I do 1AM and Ethan does 4AM. Ideally we each have a five hour chunk to sleep, if everyone is quiet. But of course they are not. The leading contenders for fuss-bucket of the year are Michael and Delia for sure, but Ben has his moments, usually when he still has a burp stuck in there.
When it's only one or the other fussing, it's manageable. I can lay in the recliner with someone on my chest and we both sleep well. But when more than one fusses, it is tough to calm everyone alone. If we had an extra set of hands 24/7 and everyone could be held all the time we'd be golden. Of course that's not an option, so we have to rotate and do the best we can to get everyone quiet and happy at the same time. Much easier said than done.
By the way, have I mentioned that I have terrible hot flashes still? I guess the breastfeeding is keeping those crazy hormones running rampant. Hot flashes SUCK. Menopause is gonna be awful. But I digress.
Friday night was by far the worst we've had so far. Everyone was fussy all night long. I didn't even attempt to close my eyes until 5AM. And as the hours tick by on the clock, I start to think about how much sleep I'm not getting, and start to panic about how tired I'll be the next day, and get more worked up, which makes the baby worked up, and the vicious cycle ends with us both in tears. Arg.
It hasn't been that bad again since, just the one person fussing at a time. But it was enough to make me decide to reach out for more help. I've already got a coworker's college aged daughter coming Monday and Tuesday nights to help out, and someone from church on Thursday nights. It looks like a neighbor is going to take Sunday nights, and our niece Wednesdays. That way we'll have someone to catch us up on dishes, laundry, de-cluttering, and to make the night time bottles, help feed, etc. A third set of hands makes a huge difference, or allows one of us to get to bed earlier.
We're working on a schedule for the kids, hoping that will help with night time sleeping. It's so hard to keep them on schedule though, because if someone is extra fussy or we have visitors or a doctor appointment or anything, we start someone late and it trickles down from there. We're still trying to stick to it as much as we can, hopefully they will grow into it.
I need to start getting up every day and practicing getting the babies in the car and out the door, but I'm too tired to right now. I go back to work November 1, so I better figure something out soon :) My one day at a time mentality is not helping my motivation. Oh well.
That's about it for now, there is much more to tell but my eyes are getting terribly heavy so I'm going to attempt to sleep.
Please continue to pray for us, we need strength and patience to make this journey successful. Thank you so so much!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Home Sweet Home
Today was the greatest day ever. We brought Delia home, and now our family is complete and together. I'm sitting right now with Michael sprawled across me, Ben in the bouncy seat and Delia in the swing. It's been insane but amazing since we got home. Everything I dreamed it would be and more.
Great Grandma McD and CGAM were our first visitors, followed shortly after by Gran and Papa Ben, and then cousins Shannon, Irelyn and Tristen. It was a madhouse as the ladies tried to help me put away junk from the hospital and clean up dishes and laundry and we tried to get all the babies taken care of. I kind of felt like I was in a tornado, but somehow I was totally calm and happy and glad to be there. There was just so much love there, support for us and elation that everyone is finally healthy enough to be home with us.
While it was joyous to leave the hospital today, it was also bittersweet to leave our second family behind. We became so very close to our nurses and doctors; we saw them more than our own family at times. They cared for our babies and for us, and it's the end of a major chapter in our lives to be leaving. I bawled like a baby when I pushed that stroller through the front doors, it was one of the most incredible feelings I've ever experienced. Somehow it was like watching them be born all over again. In a way they were reborn today, as regular old kids leaving to go home with mom and dad. So very awesome.
I'll post more pics soon and have lots of stories to tell no doubt. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has supported us thus far. We couldn"t do it without your help!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
The journey
I know I'm going to regret staying up to write this tomorrow, but at the moment I feel compelled to write so away I go.
I've been thinking the past couple days about how funny life is. We spend so much time and energy working towards these goals that we set, and then once we achieve them, we don't know what to do. Or at least I don't. It's always about getting to the next step - getting into college, getting that job, getting promoted. Once my life got a little bit settled down, I had no idea what to do with myself. These babies are very similar. It was such a struggle to get pregnant, then we had to stay pregnant. Then we had to get them off oxygen, out of the incubator, eating on their own, coming home.
They will be ten weeks old tomorrow, and I feel like all I've done is focus on the next step. What about everything we've done these past ten weeks? Part of me feels like I've missed it. Now granted, exhaustion is starting to set in and I am indeed losing chunks of time in the wee hours of the morning, waking up with a baby in my lap and a half eaten bottle on the table with no memory of feeding them. But I digress. If all I ever do is focus on getting to that next milestone, I'm going to miss all the amazing stops along the way. And just the getting there.
So I'm setting a new goal to enjoy each day, and not worry so much about where I'm going. I've got to have some destination in mind so I know what direction to take life, but I don't have to go full speed ahead. Maybe I could drive in the right lane for a while and enjoy the scenery. So what if the house is dirty, or I'm late to the doctor, or the laundry isn't folded. If I want to cuddle with a baby I should do it and not feel guilty.
Is there any chance that I'll be able to follow through with this new philosophy? Not sure, but I'm definitely going to try.
Now on a funny note, the mail brought me a great laugh yesterday. Jury duty notice. I'm thinking that infant triplets qualifies as an extreme physical or financial hardship. But just to be safe tomorrow I'm going to ask the doc for a get out of jury duty free card. Surely they can come up with something. In all seriousness I'm still breastfeeding and I don't know that they would stop a trial so I can go pump. I wish this would have come a year or two ago, I would be interested in being on a jury, but the timing is just all wrong. Maybe next time.
I've been thinking the past couple days about how funny life is. We spend so much time and energy working towards these goals that we set, and then once we achieve them, we don't know what to do. Or at least I don't. It's always about getting to the next step - getting into college, getting that job, getting promoted. Once my life got a little bit settled down, I had no idea what to do with myself. These babies are very similar. It was such a struggle to get pregnant, then we had to stay pregnant. Then we had to get them off oxygen, out of the incubator, eating on their own, coming home.
They will be ten weeks old tomorrow, and I feel like all I've done is focus on the next step. What about everything we've done these past ten weeks? Part of me feels like I've missed it. Now granted, exhaustion is starting to set in and I am indeed losing chunks of time in the wee hours of the morning, waking up with a baby in my lap and a half eaten bottle on the table with no memory of feeding them. But I digress. If all I ever do is focus on getting to that next milestone, I'm going to miss all the amazing stops along the way. And just the getting there.
So I'm setting a new goal to enjoy each day, and not worry so much about where I'm going. I've got to have some destination in mind so I know what direction to take life, but I don't have to go full speed ahead. Maybe I could drive in the right lane for a while and enjoy the scenery. So what if the house is dirty, or I'm late to the doctor, or the laundry isn't folded. If I want to cuddle with a baby I should do it and not feel guilty.
Is there any chance that I'll be able to follow through with this new philosophy? Not sure, but I'm definitely going to try.
Now on a funny note, the mail brought me a great laugh yesterday. Jury duty notice. I'm thinking that infant triplets qualifies as an extreme physical or financial hardship. But just to be safe tomorrow I'm going to ask the doc for a get out of jury duty free card. Surely they can come up with something. In all seriousness I'm still breastfeeding and I don't know that they would stop a trial so I can go pump. I wish this would have come a year or two ago, I would be interested in being on a jury, but the timing is just all wrong. Maybe next time.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Maybe those boots were made for walkin'
One of our favorite nurses brought Delia the cutest pair of teeny tiny boots today as a bribe to inspire bottle feeding. If we're lucky, she'll walk out of here in those boots very soon.
Our trial without the tube failed, she wasn't taking enough volume so she lost weight. The tube went back in on Monday. As if that wasn't hard enough, we actually thought she was going to come home on Monday, didn't find out until almost noon that it was a no go. She had been doing OK, until she lost weight. So close yet so far away. And with no real reason, just "she's a preemie."
We did look into her blood pressure, it was running kind of high so they did some tests and determined it's not high enough to be worried about for right now. We may have her checked out by a specialist in STL in a month or two just to be safe. That was good news, but also bad because it eliminated one more reason that she isn't eating. The past day or so she's started to pick up again, so maybe we've turned the corner and she'll continue to improve.
Life at home with two is interesting. The first couple nights weren't bad at all, but I think Ben is going through a growth spurt because he is constantly hungry. And Mr. Crankypants managed to overtake Mr. Michael and infiltrate the house. Taking two to the hospital alone has been interesting also, but today should be the last day of that. From here on out through the end of the month, my mom, Ethan, or crazy great Aunt Mary will be with us every day. And hopefully there won't be too many more trips to this darn place. I love my nurses but I'm SO TIRED of coming here every darn day!
Both boys got good reports at the pediatrician today, they are growing well and have no physical problems. Michael has another eye exam tomorrow since his eyes were still a bit immature at the last check, and he'll have to get a hip ultrasound since he was born breech. But other than that we are moving right along problem free.
Help at home is still kind of thin, but I do have someone coming Mon-Tues-Wed evenings starting next week to help, and they are working on finding some folks at church. I'm starting to think about work again, I go back in three weeks. I'm looking forward to it but also sad that my time with them will be over. And I'm definitely not looking forward to catching up on four and a half months of stuff I've missed!
I'll try to get some pics up in the next couple days while I've got helpers around.
Our trial without the tube failed, she wasn't taking enough volume so she lost weight. The tube went back in on Monday. As if that wasn't hard enough, we actually thought she was going to come home on Monday, didn't find out until almost noon that it was a no go. She had been doing OK, until she lost weight. So close yet so far away. And with no real reason, just "she's a preemie."
We did look into her blood pressure, it was running kind of high so they did some tests and determined it's not high enough to be worried about for right now. We may have her checked out by a specialist in STL in a month or two just to be safe. That was good news, but also bad because it eliminated one more reason that she isn't eating. The past day or so she's started to pick up again, so maybe we've turned the corner and she'll continue to improve.
Life at home with two is interesting. The first couple nights weren't bad at all, but I think Ben is going through a growth spurt because he is constantly hungry. And Mr. Crankypants managed to overtake Mr. Michael and infiltrate the house. Taking two to the hospital alone has been interesting also, but today should be the last day of that. From here on out through the end of the month, my mom, Ethan, or crazy great Aunt Mary will be with us every day. And hopefully there won't be too many more trips to this darn place. I love my nurses but I'm SO TIRED of coming here every darn day!
Both boys got good reports at the pediatrician today, they are growing well and have no physical problems. Michael has another eye exam tomorrow since his eyes were still a bit immature at the last check, and he'll have to get a hip ultrasound since he was born breech. But other than that we are moving right along problem free.
Help at home is still kind of thin, but I do have someone coming Mon-Tues-Wed evenings starting next week to help, and they are working on finding some folks at church. I'm starting to think about work again, I go back in three weeks. I'm looking forward to it but also sad that my time with them will be over. And I'm definitely not looking forward to catching up on four and a half months of stuff I've missed!
I'll try to get some pics up in the next couple days while I've got helpers around.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Another one bites the dust
The dust of the NICU that is. Michael is home with us! After Ben came back to visit and told him how awesome it was to be at home, he turned it on and got ready to come home. We have adjusted nicely to having Ben at home, worked out a good schedule for right now and are still getting some sleep.
Michael is definitely our "high need" baby who has a mattress allergy - he screams every time his back touches the mattress. Thus far we've been using a miracle blanket to swaddle him, and playing a heartbeat from a sound machine with decent luck. Not sure if that will continue to work, but let's hope so!
The week before Michael was added to the mix was pretty smooth, one baby is a piece of cake! We did baths, worked on nursing, and had a successful visit to the pediatrician. Now if only the other two would be that easy!
To handle bringing both Ben and Michael to and from the hospital, we broke out the triple stroller. We might as well walk around with a marching band escort, because it draws so many stares! Much more than I thought, I guess just because of it's unusual in line, rather than side by side, style. It does fit in a regular elevator, barely, but we prefer the hospital elevators designed to hold a gurney. Much more room for activities.
And then there is Delia. What are we going to do with her? She is a stubborn little princess and still isn't eating from the bottle enough. After much brainstorming and discussion, today we decided to try some tough love and stop using her tube. She'll get what she takes by mouth only, assuming that she doesn't show signs of physical distress. Since she is one day old adjusted, she ought to be able to handle her feedings by now. (By the way, adjusted refers to her age counting from my due date rather than her true birth date. They get those extra nine weeks to achieve all developmental milestones, up through the age of three, based on this "adjusted" age.) The doc isn't sure it will work, but it's as good an idea as anything else we've tried so maybe this is the kick she needs. Hopefully so.
I'm not having quite as much luck lining up helpers as I was hoping, but there are a few slots on the care calendar being covered. I met with two lovely young ladies this week who will hopefully come and help us a few evenings a week. I'm still working on a nursing student, if I can find one, and welcome anyone else who would like to come give me a hand. There are things to do any time of day or night, believe me!!
Last week I decided that the long hair had to go if I wanted to be able to shower regularly in less than an hour, so I got about eight inches cut off and have a super cute "swing bob" now. I love it. Much easier to deal with!!
Also, funny story today. I was changing Michael, half asleep, when I felt a warm something on my belly. How odd, until I looked down and realized he was peeing on me. I was so shocked that I just let it happen. These boys are gonna be trouble, I can tell.
Ugh, that's all for now, the hospital's internet is funky and won't let me write posts, so I'm working on it at home when I should be sleeping :) More to come soon.
Michael is definitely our "high need" baby who has a mattress allergy - he screams every time his back touches the mattress. Thus far we've been using a miracle blanket to swaddle him, and playing a heartbeat from a sound machine with decent luck. Not sure if that will continue to work, but let's hope so!
The week before Michael was added to the mix was pretty smooth, one baby is a piece of cake! We did baths, worked on nursing, and had a successful visit to the pediatrician. Now if only the other two would be that easy!
To handle bringing both Ben and Michael to and from the hospital, we broke out the triple stroller. We might as well walk around with a marching band escort, because it draws so many stares! Much more than I thought, I guess just because of it's unusual in line, rather than side by side, style. It does fit in a regular elevator, barely, but we prefer the hospital elevators designed to hold a gurney. Much more room for activities.
And then there is Delia. What are we going to do with her? She is a stubborn little princess and still isn't eating from the bottle enough. After much brainstorming and discussion, today we decided to try some tough love and stop using her tube. She'll get what she takes by mouth only, assuming that she doesn't show signs of physical distress. Since she is one day old adjusted, she ought to be able to handle her feedings by now. (By the way, adjusted refers to her age counting from my due date rather than her true birth date. They get those extra nine weeks to achieve all developmental milestones, up through the age of three, based on this "adjusted" age.) The doc isn't sure it will work, but it's as good an idea as anything else we've tried so maybe this is the kick she needs. Hopefully so.
I'm not having quite as much luck lining up helpers as I was hoping, but there are a few slots on the care calendar being covered. I met with two lovely young ladies this week who will hopefully come and help us a few evenings a week. I'm still working on a nursing student, if I can find one, and welcome anyone else who would like to come give me a hand. There are things to do any time of day or night, believe me!!
Last week I decided that the long hair had to go if I wanted to be able to shower regularly in less than an hour, so I got about eight inches cut off and have a super cute "swing bob" now. I love it. Much easier to deal with!!
Also, funny story today. I was changing Michael, half asleep, when I felt a warm something on my belly. How odd, until I looked down and realized he was peeing on me. I was so shocked that I just let it happen. These boys are gonna be trouble, I can tell.
Ugh, that's all for now, the hospital's internet is funky and won't let me write posts, so I'm working on it at home when I should be sleeping :) More to come soon.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
I'm a real mommy
Finally, after eight weeks I have one at home. Ben was released Friday afternoon! I'm not sure what I thought was going to happen, but it was very uneventful. Verify he is my baby, sign some papers, pull off his monitors, and that was it. We didn't leave until several hours later, so it was dark outside, quiet, a non-event to everyone else. But of course it was huge to us. The final result of years of hoping, praying, and waiting. It felt pretty darn good to walk through those doors with Ben in my hands.
I was a maniac with the video camera. I recorded him getting buckled in his carseat, walking out of the room, getting on the elevator, walking through the lobby, getting put in the car, getting out of the car and walking in the door at the house. I would have taped the car ride if it wasn't dark. This is probably a very bad sign of things to come!
As good as it was to bring Ben with us, Friday night was the first time I cried at leaving the others. Splitting them up is miserable every day we do it. Hopefully it won't happen many more times before the others are able to come home.
Delia and Michael are slowly getting better with their feedings, both are attempting to bottle about 6 times a day (out of 8). Michael has taken several full bottles, and Delia is averaging about 1/2 of her volume most times. The doctors aren't worried about them, they just feel that more time is needed to build up stamina. The therapy team is watching them closely too so that we are sure reflux issues aren't being missed. We are hoping they will be coming home within a week, maybe two at the most, depending on how quickly they start to pick up. It sure didn't take Ben very long to get the hang of it once he started going good!
Another very sad thing about leaving the hospital is leaving all our wonderful nurses. I didn't realize how close I had become with some of them until I realized we might not be having some of the weekend girls again. They've been my companions and support these past weeks, especially all the hours I spent at the hospital by myself. Without their positive encouragement I surely woudl have quit breastfeeding by now, and would be in a much different place with my attitude. Every time I would start to worry about the kids or about myself, feel like I was doing something wrong, or have what I felt like a dumb question, they were there to make me feel better, to tell me I was doing fine and that my question was not dumb. They've been patient with my inability to remember the names of medicines and technical terms - I compared some special formula to eating dry Ramen noodles the other day, and referred to a laxative as Colon Blow. And they have been good to my kids. Until we split them up a few days ago, I didn't really have trouble leaving the hospital without the babies. I knew they were in excellent hands and that I had nothing to worry about while I was gone. I would have struggled much more if we had a different team of primary nurses.
Hopefully we'll be able to keep in touch after everyone is gone from the hospital, I think they have become quite attached to the babies and will want to see them grow up over these next few months. Melissa even made us an adorable cake as a going away present, it was the sweetest thing ever! Figuratively and literally, buttercream and chocolate cake with a fudge filling. And our weekend night nurses have "shared custody" of the babies and have to rotate weekends since they always work the same nights. I've been told that the nurses don't fight over patients very much, so I think we might be a little bit special. I hope they have enjoyed having us as patients as much as we've enjoyed and appreciated their care.
I have no idea why this didn't occur to me earlier, but for some reason the other day it just hit me that without these nurses and doctors, the babies wouldn't have made it. Even though we didn't have any real problems other than being small and immature, without breathing and eating help, the babies couldn't function. Thank God I didn't let that cross my mind while we were living it, I would have (and maybe should have) been much more scared than I ever was. I guess I was so caught up in the excitement of them being born and the lack of new problems that I didn't have time to think about how serious their existing problems were. How is it that when we are living through things, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but when we look back and reflect we say how the hell did I survive?
One hour to sleep before the next feeding. Should probably do that instead of goof off on the internet. Good night:)
I was a maniac with the video camera. I recorded him getting buckled in his carseat, walking out of the room, getting on the elevator, walking through the lobby, getting put in the car, getting out of the car and walking in the door at the house. I would have taped the car ride if it wasn't dark. This is probably a very bad sign of things to come!
As good as it was to bring Ben with us, Friday night was the first time I cried at leaving the others. Splitting them up is miserable every day we do it. Hopefully it won't happen many more times before the others are able to come home.
Delia and Michael are slowly getting better with their feedings, both are attempting to bottle about 6 times a day (out of 8). Michael has taken several full bottles, and Delia is averaging about 1/2 of her volume most times. The doctors aren't worried about them, they just feel that more time is needed to build up stamina. The therapy team is watching them closely too so that we are sure reflux issues aren't being missed. We are hoping they will be coming home within a week, maybe two at the most, depending on how quickly they start to pick up. It sure didn't take Ben very long to get the hang of it once he started going good!
Another very sad thing about leaving the hospital is leaving all our wonderful nurses. I didn't realize how close I had become with some of them until I realized we might not be having some of the weekend girls again. They've been my companions and support these past weeks, especially all the hours I spent at the hospital by myself. Without their positive encouragement I surely woudl have quit breastfeeding by now, and would be in a much different place with my attitude. Every time I would start to worry about the kids or about myself, feel like I was doing something wrong, or have what I felt like a dumb question, they were there to make me feel better, to tell me I was doing fine and that my question was not dumb. They've been patient with my inability to remember the names of medicines and technical terms - I compared some special formula to eating dry Ramen noodles the other day, and referred to a laxative as Colon Blow. And they have been good to my kids. Until we split them up a few days ago, I didn't really have trouble leaving the hospital without the babies. I knew they were in excellent hands and that I had nothing to worry about while I was gone. I would have struggled much more if we had a different team of primary nurses.
Hopefully we'll be able to keep in touch after everyone is gone from the hospital, I think they have become quite attached to the babies and will want to see them grow up over these next few months. Melissa even made us an adorable cake as a going away present, it was the sweetest thing ever! Figuratively and literally, buttercream and chocolate cake with a fudge filling. And our weekend night nurses have "shared custody" of the babies and have to rotate weekends since they always work the same nights. I've been told that the nurses don't fight over patients very much, so I think we might be a little bit special. I hope they have enjoyed having us as patients as much as we've enjoyed and appreciated their care.
I have no idea why this didn't occur to me earlier, but for some reason the other day it just hit me that without these nurses and doctors, the babies wouldn't have made it. Even though we didn't have any real problems other than being small and immature, without breathing and eating help, the babies couldn't function. Thank God I didn't let that cross my mind while we were living it, I would have (and maybe should have) been much more scared than I ever was. I guess I was so caught up in the excitement of them being born and the lack of new problems that I didn't have time to think about how serious their existing problems were. How is it that when we are living through things, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but when we look back and reflect we say how the hell did I survive?
One hour to sleep before the next feeding. Should probably do that instead of goof off on the internet. Good night:)
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Pictures pictures pictures
I'm super behind on pictures, so here are a bunch from the past month.
A few from the Woelfle's visit to Jackson.
My helpers!
Randoms of the kiddos
My kids have the cutest clothes ever.
All triplets born at St. Francis get a permanent plaque in the labor and delivery wing. Here is ours. I had to take it down because the tiles were in the wrong order. The frame is held together with duct tape, very sophisticated.
A few from the Woelfle's visit to Jackson.
My helpers!
Randoms of the kiddos
My kids have the cutest clothes ever.
All triplets born at St. Francis get a permanent plaque in the labor and delivery wing. Here is ours. I had to take it down because the tiles were in the wrong order. The frame is held together with duct tape, very sophisticated.
Ben is coming home on Friday!!!
Or at least that is the plan. He's been tube-free for several days and just has a few minor things to take care of, including circumcision, before he's released. Very exciting and scary at the same time! They will let us bring him back to the hospital so that I can come and see the others but I have to bring all my own supplies. It's going to be quite the adventure.
No updates on Michael or Delia yet, we're still working to figure out their eating issues.
I tried to add some photos but the hospital internet is being dumb so I'll put them up later tonight.
No updates on Michael or Delia yet, we're still working to figure out their eating issues.
I tried to add some photos but the hospital internet is being dumb so I'll put them up later tonight.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Help Wanted
It's getting to be about that time when we'll need tons of help at home. I'm using Care Calendar to track all our helpers, so if you can lend a hand with feedings, meals, housework, etc please consider signing up. http://www.carecalendar.org/?cid=42714, password is 0730 (their birthday!)
It's been a good week since I last updated everyone. Lots and lots of news to share, so here goes!
Last Monday night I stayed overnight at the hospital to have a practice run at caring for them overnight. It was a harsh dose of reality to say the least. I got a total of 45 minutes sleep all night, didn't even lay down to attempt sleep until 3:30AM. By the time everyone does their feeding, and then I have to pump, it's just about time to start again. Everyone was pretty slow with taking their bottles, so it just drug on and on. I was kind of nervous after that and decided we needed to try an overnight with both Ethan and I to see how two hands worked.
Saturday night we tried the team approach with much success. Sleep was still at a premium, but it was much better than doing it alone. We were able to split up the kids and I pumped while he fed, so we were able to sleep between all the feedings. And by Saturday Ben was eating much faster, taking a bottle in a half hour or less, so that helped too.
Also, by Saturday we had confirmation that Ben is off oxygen for good! He isn't even wearing the oxygen monitor anymore, which is awesome. I was so happy to take off that darn thing and I threw it on the floor and stomped on it for good measure. Hooray! Apparently he just needed that little bit of extra time, and once the oxygen came off he started rocking and rolling.
Ben has been doing awesome with his bottles, taking three or four in a row almost all the time. They are starting to use the H word.....HOME!!!!!!!!! Maybe as early as this weekend! He pulled his tube out today, bad boy, and they are going to leave it out until he doesn't take one of his feedings. We're keeping our fingers crossed for him!
Michael had been doing pretty good too, but his acid reflux has caused him to backtrack a little bit. Every time we think we've got it figured out, he starts getting a snotty nose and getting fussy and uncomfortable again. We've tried special formula and breastmilk with rice cereal added to thicken it. We've tried different bottles and nipple sizes. We've tried Prevacid. Now he's got some constipation problems, possibly from the rice, so we're going to treat that and see if getting him cleared out helps any. We may try another special formula, but the doctor is hesitant to do that because the reflux formulas aren't designed to meet the nutritional needs of preemies, and aren't as good as breastmilk. So we'll see.
Delia has become a mystery too. She was doing the best from the get go, but she's hit a brick wall that we can't seem to tear down. She'll take about a third of her feeding and quit. We think she may have reflux issues too, but the doctor isn't sure so we aren't going to start playing the formula/rice/medicine game with her yet. Michael's lack of success isn't helping us much either, but maybe if we get him figured out we can try the same thing with her.
We're getting to the most frustrating and challenging part of this process I think. Ben will be home and the other two will still be stuck there. I'll have to either drag Ben back up there, with all our own supplies and food from home, or stay at home with him and be away from the others. If we could just get them to eat, they would be at home too. It seems like such a simple task, but we've been working on it for weeks. This is very typical of preemies and there isn't anything truly wrong with them, but it's really tough to sit back and know that I can't do anything to help them.
I've been trying to busy myself with preparations at home, and so far that has worked well. We've also got the most amazing nurses at the hospital, who are constantly praising us for being involved and encouraging us to keep going. It's been really nice for me to have some friends to pass the day with and give me some conversation and an occassional distraction from the chaos of three babies. As much as I want to have them home, I really am going to miss the nurses a lot.
I've also said good bye to my doctor for a while, I had my six week follow up appointment and passed with flying colors last week. I spent so much time with the doc and the nurses at her office, it will be really strange to not be seeing them all the time. I became very close to my doctor through the pregnancy and especially my hospital stay. It was great to get to know a professional mom who could talk candidly about work life balance and dealing with life down here as a working mom. There are a good number of stay at home moms down here, and a lot of people who are anti day care, so having someone to relate to was great.
An old chapter ending and a new chapter beginning. That's the way life is going to be for the next few weeks as we say goodbye to old friends and start to make new friends with helpers from church, the pediatrician, day care, and who knows. Exciting but scary. Terrifying actually. I don't know how "normal" moms take their babies home two days after delivering. My babies are pushing eight weeks and I still feel totally underqualified to even consider bringing them home. At least I can take comfort in knowing that I'm smarter than LOTS of parents, and even at my worst I will be better than most. It will all work out, getting the helpers we need, figuring out our schedule and how to live a life with three kids, balancing work and home life. But until we're actually doing it and maybe even after that, it's going to be nerve racking.
It's a good think I've developed a laid back personality since having kids. Yes, that's right, MULTIPLE nurses have commented that I am so "go with the flow" and easy going. I must have undergone a personality transplant while I was under, because I most certainly never would have used those terms to describe myself. I guess because there is so much uncertainty about things right now, I've flipped into survival mode where I have no choice but to be laid back and take things as they come. The kids rule my life now, every aspect of it. I still fight that occassionally, but I have utterly no control anymore so I might as well accept it.
I will provide updates this week, I promise, as things progress with Ben. Wish us luck and don't forget to sign up to help us!!
And of course, the current weights:
Ben - 6lb 13 oz
Delia - 6 lb 14 oz
Michael - 6 lb 8 oz
It's been a good week since I last updated everyone. Lots and lots of news to share, so here goes!
Last Monday night I stayed overnight at the hospital to have a practice run at caring for them overnight. It was a harsh dose of reality to say the least. I got a total of 45 minutes sleep all night, didn't even lay down to attempt sleep until 3:30AM. By the time everyone does their feeding, and then I have to pump, it's just about time to start again. Everyone was pretty slow with taking their bottles, so it just drug on and on. I was kind of nervous after that and decided we needed to try an overnight with both Ethan and I to see how two hands worked.
Saturday night we tried the team approach with much success. Sleep was still at a premium, but it was much better than doing it alone. We were able to split up the kids and I pumped while he fed, so we were able to sleep between all the feedings. And by Saturday Ben was eating much faster, taking a bottle in a half hour or less, so that helped too.
Also, by Saturday we had confirmation that Ben is off oxygen for good! He isn't even wearing the oxygen monitor anymore, which is awesome. I was so happy to take off that darn thing and I threw it on the floor and stomped on it for good measure. Hooray! Apparently he just needed that little bit of extra time, and once the oxygen came off he started rocking and rolling.
Ben has been doing awesome with his bottles, taking three or four in a row almost all the time. They are starting to use the H word.....HOME!!!!!!!!! Maybe as early as this weekend! He pulled his tube out today, bad boy, and they are going to leave it out until he doesn't take one of his feedings. We're keeping our fingers crossed for him!
Michael had been doing pretty good too, but his acid reflux has caused him to backtrack a little bit. Every time we think we've got it figured out, he starts getting a snotty nose and getting fussy and uncomfortable again. We've tried special formula and breastmilk with rice cereal added to thicken it. We've tried different bottles and nipple sizes. We've tried Prevacid. Now he's got some constipation problems, possibly from the rice, so we're going to treat that and see if getting him cleared out helps any. We may try another special formula, but the doctor is hesitant to do that because the reflux formulas aren't designed to meet the nutritional needs of preemies, and aren't as good as breastmilk. So we'll see.
Delia has become a mystery too. She was doing the best from the get go, but she's hit a brick wall that we can't seem to tear down. She'll take about a third of her feeding and quit. We think she may have reflux issues too, but the doctor isn't sure so we aren't going to start playing the formula/rice/medicine game with her yet. Michael's lack of success isn't helping us much either, but maybe if we get him figured out we can try the same thing with her.
We're getting to the most frustrating and challenging part of this process I think. Ben will be home and the other two will still be stuck there. I'll have to either drag Ben back up there, with all our own supplies and food from home, or stay at home with him and be away from the others. If we could just get them to eat, they would be at home too. It seems like such a simple task, but we've been working on it for weeks. This is very typical of preemies and there isn't anything truly wrong with them, but it's really tough to sit back and know that I can't do anything to help them.
I've been trying to busy myself with preparations at home, and so far that has worked well. We've also got the most amazing nurses at the hospital, who are constantly praising us for being involved and encouraging us to keep going. It's been really nice for me to have some friends to pass the day with and give me some conversation and an occassional distraction from the chaos of three babies. As much as I want to have them home, I really am going to miss the nurses a lot.
I've also said good bye to my doctor for a while, I had my six week follow up appointment and passed with flying colors last week. I spent so much time with the doc and the nurses at her office, it will be really strange to not be seeing them all the time. I became very close to my doctor through the pregnancy and especially my hospital stay. It was great to get to know a professional mom who could talk candidly about work life balance and dealing with life down here as a working mom. There are a good number of stay at home moms down here, and a lot of people who are anti day care, so having someone to relate to was great.
An old chapter ending and a new chapter beginning. That's the way life is going to be for the next few weeks as we say goodbye to old friends and start to make new friends with helpers from church, the pediatrician, day care, and who knows. Exciting but scary. Terrifying actually. I don't know how "normal" moms take their babies home two days after delivering. My babies are pushing eight weeks and I still feel totally underqualified to even consider bringing them home. At least I can take comfort in knowing that I'm smarter than LOTS of parents, and even at my worst I will be better than most. It will all work out, getting the helpers we need, figuring out our schedule and how to live a life with three kids, balancing work and home life. But until we're actually doing it and maybe even after that, it's going to be nerve racking.
It's a good think I've developed a laid back personality since having kids. Yes, that's right, MULTIPLE nurses have commented that I am so "go with the flow" and easy going. I must have undergone a personality transplant while I was under, because I most certainly never would have used those terms to describe myself. I guess because there is so much uncertainty about things right now, I've flipped into survival mode where I have no choice but to be laid back and take things as they come. The kids rule my life now, every aspect of it. I still fight that occassionally, but I have utterly no control anymore so I might as well accept it.
I will provide updates this week, I promise, as things progress with Ben. Wish us luck and don't forget to sign up to help us!!
And of course, the current weights:
Ben - 6lb 13 oz
Delia - 6 lb 14 oz
Michael - 6 lb 8 oz
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Mommy is so proud of her PO'ed babies!
Sounds crazy right? Except that in NICU lingo, PO stands for per oral, aka taken from a bottle. So whenever the babies work with a bottle rather than get fed from their tube, they are considered to have PO'ed. While they are in the hospital ONLY, I want these babies to be PO'ed all the time!
We are making great strides with the bottles. Everyone has taken at least two full bottles, and the boys have taken a few consecutive bottles which is AWESOME!!! They have to take all eight daily feedings by bottle consecutively, to prove that they can survive without the tube as a backup. So every bottle or partial bottle they take is wonderful. Right now Michael is the leader, having taken three consecutive bottles. Ben is actually the next best, because he's taken two or three over the course of a day which is great. Little Miss Delia has decided to pull the diva card again and likes to take about a quarter of her feeding, fake sleep so we put it in the tube, and then wake back up again to play. We haven't quite figured out how we are going to break the habit but it's getting mighty frustrating. The first of many battles with her I'm afraid.
Ben is off his oxygen for the moment, and thus far has been doing very well. He sometimes has spells where his oxygen level dips below the preferred level but he recovers quite well, so the nurses are really pushing to leave him off and let him muscle through. Hopefully he'll keep fighting and build up his strength so he can be rid of it forever!
Everyone is doing well for their age (37 weeks adjusted as of Thursday; 6 weeks old as of Friday). Right now they just need to build up their stamina and endurance. They are all anemic, which is extremely common even in full term infants, so that affects their ability to maintain the energy necessary to take a whole bottle. We'll just keep plugging along and hope for continued improvement every day. Once they take those eight consecutive bottles, they can probably come home within a day or two. We're getting closer and closer!
Everyone got their first round of immunizations today, woo hoo! They did really well and so far don't seem to have fevers or be fussy at all. Hopefully all shots will go that well from now on. We had eye exams last week too, which turned out mostly perfect. Delia had something a little bit out of the ordinary show up on hers, so they are testing her urine to rule out some kind of infection that the doctors are almost sure she doesn't have. It was just fascinating to me to see how they get a urine sample from a baby (cotton balls in the diaper; who knew?)
Delia and Ben are in the six pound club (6 lb 4 oz and 6 lb 1 oz), with Michael bringing up the rear at 5 lb 10 oz. His reflux is still pretty bad, so he was on a special formula the past week to try to help, which kind of slowed his growth a bit. He's back on breastmilk as of yesterday, with a little rice cereal to thicken it and help with the reflux, so he should catch up and join the six pound club very soon.
We've had lots of exciting visitors the past week: all three great grandparents! It was the first trip ever for the Woelfles to Jackson, so they saw the babies and the house last Sunday. Grandma McD hadn't seen the babies since the day after they were born, so it was a big change for her, Mary and Susan to see. And the babies are already demonstrating an amazing ability to behave well around company. Hopefully that continues throughout childhood!
We started training our helpers this week also. Grandma Maggie spent three days with us and started changing diapers and working with feedings. Delia was nice enough to give her a "diaper christening" if you catch my drift, so now she can handle explosive diapers with ease. And CGAM (crazy Great Aunt Mary) saw some diaper demos today so that she'll be ready to start in next weekend when she comes back to visit.
Now that we're entering the six pound zone, we've moved up to newborn clothes. Delia was absolutely busting out of the preemie stuff, but of course drowns in the newborn sizes. We're cuffing the sleeves and that seems to be taking care of it for right now. I'm sure she'll have those filled out rather quickly too. Good thing I brought the preemie stuff to the hospital for them to wear or it never would have been used!
We're still on the pediatrics floor of the hospital in NICU overflow, which works really well for us. We don't see all of our favorite nurses as often, as they sometimes have to stay upstairs to work on patient transports or more high risk cases, but the level of care is still wonderful. We are enjoying our privacy and the nurses say we are almost ready to come work here. I even know the code to get into one of the kitchen areas for when I do my breastmilk pumping dishes, how crazy is that?
My dad made a very interesting point after his visit last weekend. He said that he's heard me talk about how busy I am every day many many times, but it didn't really hit him until he saw me doing it. Here's a typical day in my life right now to give you a feel for the craziness my life has become:
7:30 AM Get up and pump
8-10:30 AM Eat breakfast, shower, cook supper, pack my lunch and my/Ethan's supper, clean house (ha ha ha), run errands
10:30 AM Leave for hospital
11:00 AM Arrive at hospital; begin "cares" for everyone. "Cares" consist of temperature, diaper change, vital sign exam by nurse, and feeding. Bottle feeding takes approximately 30-40 minutes on a good day. Delia goes at 11, Michael 11:30, and Ben at 12. Usually at least one massive dump diaper per care that requires a clothing change and/or bedding change.
12:30 Pump, if everyone cooperated during 11AM cares. Otherwise, pump at 1
1:00 Eat lunch and socialize with babies (rather than making them work by eating or torture them with diaper change). Or soothe cranky crying babies. Or change disgusting diapers that stink so bad they can't wait for the next care.
2:00 Repeat cares
3:30 Pump, if everyone cooperated, etc etc
4:00 Brief nap if lucky, or socialize. Maybe personal phone call if lucky.
5:00 Repeat cares (seeing a pattern here?)
6:00 Dad arrives, so between cares duties heat up supper and eat
7:00 Pump, catch up with Dad on the day
8:00 PM Repeat cares. First care of night shift adds in blood pressure and weight measurement, which involves removing clothes. Keep in mind clothes has likely changed two to three times per child by now.
9:30 Leave for home after cares are complete.
10:00 Pump
10:30 Catch up on email, pay bills.
11-2AM Sleep
2:00 Pump
3-7:30 Sleep
Even typing that out just doesn't do it justice. I'll have to pay closer attention tomorrow to figure out exactly what it is that I do during all those in between times, because I promise you there is very little sitting involved :)
And right now I'm behind schedule because I haven't pumped yet and am cutting into my sleeping time. More to come in the days ahead!
We are making great strides with the bottles. Everyone has taken at least two full bottles, and the boys have taken a few consecutive bottles which is AWESOME!!! They have to take all eight daily feedings by bottle consecutively, to prove that they can survive without the tube as a backup. So every bottle or partial bottle they take is wonderful. Right now Michael is the leader, having taken three consecutive bottles. Ben is actually the next best, because he's taken two or three over the course of a day which is great. Little Miss Delia has decided to pull the diva card again and likes to take about a quarter of her feeding, fake sleep so we put it in the tube, and then wake back up again to play. We haven't quite figured out how we are going to break the habit but it's getting mighty frustrating. The first of many battles with her I'm afraid.
Ben is off his oxygen for the moment, and thus far has been doing very well. He sometimes has spells where his oxygen level dips below the preferred level but he recovers quite well, so the nurses are really pushing to leave him off and let him muscle through. Hopefully he'll keep fighting and build up his strength so he can be rid of it forever!
Everyone is doing well for their age (37 weeks adjusted as of Thursday; 6 weeks old as of Friday). Right now they just need to build up their stamina and endurance. They are all anemic, which is extremely common even in full term infants, so that affects their ability to maintain the energy necessary to take a whole bottle. We'll just keep plugging along and hope for continued improvement every day. Once they take those eight consecutive bottles, they can probably come home within a day or two. We're getting closer and closer!
Everyone got their first round of immunizations today, woo hoo! They did really well and so far don't seem to have fevers or be fussy at all. Hopefully all shots will go that well from now on. We had eye exams last week too, which turned out mostly perfect. Delia had something a little bit out of the ordinary show up on hers, so they are testing her urine to rule out some kind of infection that the doctors are almost sure she doesn't have. It was just fascinating to me to see how they get a urine sample from a baby (cotton balls in the diaper; who knew?)
Delia and Ben are in the six pound club (6 lb 4 oz and 6 lb 1 oz), with Michael bringing up the rear at 5 lb 10 oz. His reflux is still pretty bad, so he was on a special formula the past week to try to help, which kind of slowed his growth a bit. He's back on breastmilk as of yesterday, with a little rice cereal to thicken it and help with the reflux, so he should catch up and join the six pound club very soon.
We've had lots of exciting visitors the past week: all three great grandparents! It was the first trip ever for the Woelfles to Jackson, so they saw the babies and the house last Sunday. Grandma McD hadn't seen the babies since the day after they were born, so it was a big change for her, Mary and Susan to see. And the babies are already demonstrating an amazing ability to behave well around company. Hopefully that continues throughout childhood!
We started training our helpers this week also. Grandma Maggie spent three days with us and started changing diapers and working with feedings. Delia was nice enough to give her a "diaper christening" if you catch my drift, so now she can handle explosive diapers with ease. And CGAM (crazy Great Aunt Mary) saw some diaper demos today so that she'll be ready to start in next weekend when she comes back to visit.
Now that we're entering the six pound zone, we've moved up to newborn clothes. Delia was absolutely busting out of the preemie stuff, but of course drowns in the newborn sizes. We're cuffing the sleeves and that seems to be taking care of it for right now. I'm sure she'll have those filled out rather quickly too. Good thing I brought the preemie stuff to the hospital for them to wear or it never would have been used!
We're still on the pediatrics floor of the hospital in NICU overflow, which works really well for us. We don't see all of our favorite nurses as often, as they sometimes have to stay upstairs to work on patient transports or more high risk cases, but the level of care is still wonderful. We are enjoying our privacy and the nurses say we are almost ready to come work here. I even know the code to get into one of the kitchen areas for when I do my breastmilk pumping dishes, how crazy is that?
My dad made a very interesting point after his visit last weekend. He said that he's heard me talk about how busy I am every day many many times, but it didn't really hit him until he saw me doing it. Here's a typical day in my life right now to give you a feel for the craziness my life has become:
7:30 AM Get up and pump
8-10:30 AM Eat breakfast, shower, cook supper, pack my lunch and my/Ethan's supper, clean house (ha ha ha), run errands
10:30 AM Leave for hospital
11:00 AM Arrive at hospital; begin "cares" for everyone. "Cares" consist of temperature, diaper change, vital sign exam by nurse, and feeding. Bottle feeding takes approximately 30-40 minutes on a good day. Delia goes at 11, Michael 11:30, and Ben at 12. Usually at least one massive dump diaper per care that requires a clothing change and/or bedding change.
12:30 Pump, if everyone cooperated during 11AM cares. Otherwise, pump at 1
1:00 Eat lunch and socialize with babies (rather than making them work by eating or torture them with diaper change). Or soothe cranky crying babies. Or change disgusting diapers that stink so bad they can't wait for the next care.
2:00 Repeat cares
3:30 Pump, if everyone cooperated, etc etc
4:00 Brief nap if lucky, or socialize. Maybe personal phone call if lucky.
5:00 Repeat cares (seeing a pattern here?)
6:00 Dad arrives, so between cares duties heat up supper and eat
7:00 Pump, catch up with Dad on the day
8:00 PM Repeat cares. First care of night shift adds in blood pressure and weight measurement, which involves removing clothes. Keep in mind clothes has likely changed two to three times per child by now.
9:30 Leave for home after cares are complete.
10:00 Pump
10:30 Catch up on email, pay bills.
11-2AM Sleep
2:00 Pump
3-7:30 Sleep
Even typing that out just doesn't do it justice. I'll have to pay closer attention tomorrow to figure out exactly what it is that I do during all those in between times, because I promise you there is very little sitting involved :)
And right now I'm behind schedule because I haven't pumped yet and am cutting into my sleeping time. More to come in the days ahead!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Where does the time go?
This title is fitting in so many, many different ways. When I left the hospital today, it was raining. I thought to myself how odd, since it was sunny when I was last outside. Then I realized it had been almost seven hours since I was outside, so of course the weather had changed. Then I thought about how unbelievable it is that August is almost over. Seems like just yesterday I couldn't believe July was almost over. Now I see that it's been an entire week since I updated this blog. That's outrageous! How could I leave all my dedicated followers stranded for so long with no new information? Now I've got lots of catching up to do.
Which leads me to the main reason I logged on to post tonight, which also ties in to the title. I have new pictures because the triplets will be ONE MONTH OLD tomorrow. CRAZY. How has it only been a month since they got here? My surgery and all that time laying in the hospital like a beached whale seems so long ago. Yet somehow I can't believe they are already a month old. It's bittersweet, I always pictured myself taking a baby to get professional pictures on their one month birthday. And here I am with babies that haven't ever left the walls of the hospital. Part of me wants them to be home right now so we can start our lives, but part of me is still terrified to be in charge of three human beings. Totally, totally crazy.
The past week had several exciting milestones, but the days were never long enough for me to get online to provide updates. Everyone is out of their incubator now, they went into regular old newborn bassinets briefly, but have now moved on to cribs. Plain vanilla good old fashioned drop side cribs. That is pretty exciting, and the cribs have an adjustable incline so they can be propped up to help with digestion.
And speaking of digestion, even though my babies have absolutely NO PROBLEMS with potty related functions, they are all dealing with some acid reflux. This is a common preemie problem, and there isn't a whole lot they can do for it, but it can be very uncomfortable for the babies so I hate it. Michael is actually on Prevacid (no idea on that spelling) because his is pretty severe, poor guy cries almost nonstop, so we'll see if it helps or not. Ben and Delia are showing signs of it too but seem to suffer in silence, so they aren't being medicated. They should outgrow it but I'm not sure how long that will take.
Feeding continues to be a challenge although everyone seems to be making good progress. Delia is taking a quarter to a third of a bottle several times a day, depending on how awake her highness decides to be. Ben is allowed to try a bottle up to twice a day and usually does about a third, and Michael is still working on it a couple times a day as well. Slow but steady progress.
Ben is working hard to get off his oxygen but for some reason he can't quite kick the habit. As of this evening, he's off it for two hours at a time, then gets it back while he is eating. Poor kid can't multi task for nothing. We'll have to work on that.
The other big change is that we've been moved off the NICU floor, even though we are still NICU patients. They are overcrowded right now, so the healthiest kids get bumped down to the pediatric unit. We still have the same rules about visitors, hand washing, and we have our own NICU nurse, but we're in a regular room. Actually the room where I stayed for a few weeks :) It's easier to come and go because we don't have to go through the entrance that requires someone on the inside to grant access, but it's a little lonely because we only see our nurse all day. No pop in visits from our other nursing friends. It's a good sign that everyone is doing well enough to be considered healthy enough to be bumped. Hopefully we've just got a few weeks ahead of us now before we can come home.
And the ever exciting weight updates:
Ben 4 lb 13 oz
Delia 5lb 6 oz (FIVE POUND CLUB!!!!!)
Michael 4 lb 12 oz....he's gaining on Ben!!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
So much more room for activities!
It seems to get more and more difficult to keep this blog updated, but I promise I'm trying! So many things happen every day, I hope I can remember everything that has transpired since Tuesday.
Everyone is doing extremely well and continuing to make huge strides every day. Delia and Ben are both out of their incubators and in "big kid" beds, regular bassinets like those in the plain old nursery. Because they are big enough and can maintain a good temperature on their own, without assistance from the incubator, they got sprung on Thursday and Saturday. These beds are SO much easier to work with, because we can just stand over them and take temperatures, change diapers, etc. rather than reaching through holes in the side of the incubators like astronauts or something. They take up much less space, so their room feels much bigger and is easier to navigate around. The only downside is that there are no longer walls to protect us from the explosive diaper action they have a reputation for. At least before there was some degree of separation to prevent it from going everywhere. Hopefully we have figured out all the tricks to avoid major incidents, but we'll have to wait and see. Michael is still the littlest of the three so he needs a couple more days before he'll get a big boy bed, but he should be there very soon.
They are all experimenting with bottle feeding too, very exciting. Delia of course is leading the pack, she takes a bottle several times a day and drinks around 10-15 ml of her milk before taking the rest via her tube (her total feeds are 38ml now, just over an ounce every three hours). Benjamin is working on it twice a day and took a huge 20ml today, big accomplishment! Michael does it once a day and took 10ml today, he definitely needs the most work but he'll get there soon I'm sure. It's very hard work for the babies, because they have to learn that bottles give milk, unlike the pacifiers they are used to sucking on. And then they have to remember to stop and breathe between sucks. Delia and Ben are pretty good about stopping and starting, but Michael needs to be reminded. It's very time consuming to work with any of them, because you have to watch them VERY closely to be sure nothing goes wrong. Until they figure it out, whoever feeds them has to be the brains and know when to pull back and when to let them feed. And until they are more skilled they need to be very awake and alert, so that's another chore to keep them focused on the task at hand. It will be slow progress before they are able to take all eight daily feedings solely by bottle, but we'll get there.
Side note, I haven't given up on breast feeding yet. I'm still pumping, although I'm a few ounces behind their needs so we are supplementing with formula (bummer for me, but three against one is tough!). Once they figure out the suck/swallow/breathe concept I'll start trying to nurse them, but while they are learning it is better to have a bottle so that we can control volume, flow speed, etc and so that the therapists at the hospital can work with them around the clock.
Which brings me to another reason there is so much more room for activities - I have moved out of the hospital and back home. After 40 nights away, I finally spent Friday night in my own bed. It was heavenly, although I'm still adapting to not being able to take the elevator to get to the babies. I have to drag my pump back and forth and plan much more carefully how I'll spend my day. We'll see how this week goes.
Ben is still on his oxygen, but he is getting Lasix (aka a "water pill" just like senior citizens often take) to help get rid of some water they see on his lungs. This is a very common problem/resolution for preemies, and after his three days on the medicine they hope he'll be off it again. Poor guy really hates that cannula in his nose, so maybe that will inspire him to work harder to get rid of it!
And of course the ever exciting weight updates:
Ben 4lb 6 oz
Delia 4 lb 13 oz
Michael 4 lb 3 oz
I will work on pictures in the next day or two I hope, they are all getting much fuller in the face as you can imagine from their weight gains, so they are somehow even cuter than they were before!
Everyone is doing extremely well and continuing to make huge strides every day. Delia and Ben are both out of their incubators and in "big kid" beds, regular bassinets like those in the plain old nursery. Because they are big enough and can maintain a good temperature on their own, without assistance from the incubator, they got sprung on Thursday and Saturday. These beds are SO much easier to work with, because we can just stand over them and take temperatures, change diapers, etc. rather than reaching through holes in the side of the incubators like astronauts or something. They take up much less space, so their room feels much bigger and is easier to navigate around. The only downside is that there are no longer walls to protect us from the explosive diaper action they have a reputation for. At least before there was some degree of separation to prevent it from going everywhere. Hopefully we have figured out all the tricks to avoid major incidents, but we'll have to wait and see. Michael is still the littlest of the three so he needs a couple more days before he'll get a big boy bed, but he should be there very soon.
They are all experimenting with bottle feeding too, very exciting. Delia of course is leading the pack, she takes a bottle several times a day and drinks around 10-15 ml of her milk before taking the rest via her tube (her total feeds are 38ml now, just over an ounce every three hours). Benjamin is working on it twice a day and took a huge 20ml today, big accomplishment! Michael does it once a day and took 10ml today, he definitely needs the most work but he'll get there soon I'm sure. It's very hard work for the babies, because they have to learn that bottles give milk, unlike the pacifiers they are used to sucking on. And then they have to remember to stop and breathe between sucks. Delia and Ben are pretty good about stopping and starting, but Michael needs to be reminded. It's very time consuming to work with any of them, because you have to watch them VERY closely to be sure nothing goes wrong. Until they figure it out, whoever feeds them has to be the brains and know when to pull back and when to let them feed. And until they are more skilled they need to be very awake and alert, so that's another chore to keep them focused on the task at hand. It will be slow progress before they are able to take all eight daily feedings solely by bottle, but we'll get there.
Side note, I haven't given up on breast feeding yet. I'm still pumping, although I'm a few ounces behind their needs so we are supplementing with formula (bummer for me, but three against one is tough!). Once they figure out the suck/swallow/breathe concept I'll start trying to nurse them, but while they are learning it is better to have a bottle so that we can control volume, flow speed, etc and so that the therapists at the hospital can work with them around the clock.
Which brings me to another reason there is so much more room for activities - I have moved out of the hospital and back home. After 40 nights away, I finally spent Friday night in my own bed. It was heavenly, although I'm still adapting to not being able to take the elevator to get to the babies. I have to drag my pump back and forth and plan much more carefully how I'll spend my day. We'll see how this week goes.
Ben is still on his oxygen, but he is getting Lasix (aka a "water pill" just like senior citizens often take) to help get rid of some water they see on his lungs. This is a very common problem/resolution for preemies, and after his three days on the medicine they hope he'll be off it again. Poor guy really hates that cannula in his nose, so maybe that will inspire him to work harder to get rid of it!
And of course the ever exciting weight updates:
Ben 4lb 6 oz
Delia 4 lb 13 oz
Michael 4 lb 3 oz
I will work on pictures in the next day or two I hope, they are all getting much fuller in the face as you can imagine from their weight gains, so they are somehow even cuter than they were before!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
42 pounds and counting!
Yes that's right, I have lost 42 pounds in the last 18 days. Hooray for me, another 6 to go before I'm back at pre-pregnancy weight. Now if only I was anywhere close to pre-pregnancy SIZE. I guess I should give myself a little bit more time to get there.
I'm doing very well and the doctor gave me the thumbs up to drive today. The incision is almost completely healed and I'm down to almost no pain meds. I think I'll probably "check out" of the hospital sometime later this week and start living at home again. After all, I haven't slept in my own bed since July 11. I haven't driven a car since June 9, my last doctor appt. before I got put on bedrest, so that will be pretty exciting. Thrilling life I live isn't it?
The babies continue to make slow but steady progress. Delia took a bottle today for the first time and did extremely well with it. She drank almost a fourth of it before she fell asleep. The therapist was very impressed that she stopped to breathe between swallows, as most preemies take a while to learn how to suck, swallow and breathe. We'll keep working with her at every feeding that she wakes up for and the boys will probably be right behind her.
Ben had a small setback today and had to get his oxygen back, but they can't find anything wrong with him. It could be some reflux in his tummy, or his lungs might not be strong enough yet to breathe as deep as he needs to, and his energy might have just run out. They'll retest everything tomorrow to be sure and then start weaning him off of it again. This is very common for preemies so the doctor isn't very concerned, just watching to be sure nothing else develops.
And of course the ever exciting weight updates:
Ben: 4 lb 2 oz
Delia: 4 lb 3 oz
Mike: 3 lb 14 oz
I'm doing very well and the doctor gave me the thumbs up to drive today. The incision is almost completely healed and I'm down to almost no pain meds. I think I'll probably "check out" of the hospital sometime later this week and start living at home again. After all, I haven't slept in my own bed since July 11. I haven't driven a car since June 9, my last doctor appt. before I got put on bedrest, so that will be pretty exciting. Thrilling life I live isn't it?
The babies continue to make slow but steady progress. Delia took a bottle today for the first time and did extremely well with it. She drank almost a fourth of it before she fell asleep. The therapist was very impressed that she stopped to breathe between swallows, as most preemies take a while to learn how to suck, swallow and breathe. We'll keep working with her at every feeding that she wakes up for and the boys will probably be right behind her.
Ben had a small setback today and had to get his oxygen back, but they can't find anything wrong with him. It could be some reflux in his tummy, or his lungs might not be strong enough yet to breathe as deep as he needs to, and his energy might have just run out. They'll retest everything tomorrow to be sure and then start weaning him off of it again. This is very common for preemies so the doctor isn't very concerned, just watching to be sure nothing else develops.
And of course the ever exciting weight updates:
Ben: 4 lb 2 oz
Delia: 4 lb 3 oz
Mike: 3 lb 14 oz
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Wireless babies
Everyone is IV and oxygen free at this point, hooray! Ben finally got his IV out a couple days ago, so everyone is taking all their food via nose tube at this point. Everyone has also lost their cords, which is awesome because I was super grossed out by them!
The babies are all getting better at being awake during feedings and are showing good feeding "cues" such as taking a pacifier and chewing on their fingers. We may be able to start trying to work with a bottle next week, which would be very exciting.
Delia has officially overtaken Ben as the biggest, with a weight of 3lb 14 oz. Ben isn't too far behind at 3lb 13 oz, and Michael is growing the fastest at 3lb 10 oz. They'll all be neck and neck in a few days I'm sure.
Another great skill Delia and Michael have picked up is explosive aerodymanic bowel movements. Everywhere. Let's just say I am extremely happy they are still in four sided incubators right now so that things are contained. I think they are having a distance contest and I'm not sure who is ahead right now, but if this keeps up when we get home they will be getting changed in the yard and going naked! I'm hoping that we can outgrow this before it's time to come home :)
The babies are all getting better at being awake during feedings and are showing good feeding "cues" such as taking a pacifier and chewing on their fingers. We may be able to start trying to work with a bottle next week, which would be very exciting.
Delia has officially overtaken Ben as the biggest, with a weight of 3lb 14 oz. Ben isn't too far behind at 3lb 13 oz, and Michael is growing the fastest at 3lb 10 oz. They'll all be neck and neck in a few days I'm sure.
Another great skill Delia and Michael have picked up is explosive aerodymanic bowel movements. Everywhere. Let's just say I am extremely happy they are still in four sided incubators right now so that things are contained. I think they are having a distance contest and I'm not sure who is ahead right now, but if this keeps up when we get home they will be getting changed in the yard and going naked! I'm hoping that we can outgrow this before it's time to come home :)
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Family photos!!
Mommy is very tired so this will be a short post, but today was a most exciting day because we got to hold all three babies at the same time and take our first family picture. We've waited a very VERY long time to get to this point and are so thrilled and blessed to have made it this far, we can't wait to see what the days ahead hold for us!
Monday, August 9, 2010
24 hours of firsts!!
My babies are growing up too fast! How can I say that when they are only ten days old and less than 4 pounds? I guess it's just part of that crazy mom gene that I got passed to me from every direction.
Last night we did baths, very exciting. Ben and Michael got sponge baths because they still have IVs, but Delia got a big girl swaddle bath in the tub because she is IV free! Ben and Delia both loved their bath, except for getting their bottoms washed, and Michael really wasn't so hot on it at all. Maybe things will improve. I hope it gets easier because it took close to two hours to bathe everyone, and the nurse said that was faster than she expected. Good grief!
Side note - there are THREE NICU nurses from Ethan's home town of Oran (population 1,200). One girl several years older than Ethan, one who was in our nephew Zack's class, and the little sister of one of Ethan's good friends. Isn't that so strange, a town that small has that many nurses that specialize in babies? Works good for us :)
I also started "recreational" nursing yesterday, which entails going through the motions while they are getting tube fed. Ben isn't quite ready yet but Delia and Mike both did really well with it. We'll keep doing it about once a day for a while, no one has talked about when we move to the next step but that's OK. I'm content for now!
And to top off the day, everyone got clothes! They look a little silly because they are swimming in even the preemie clothes, but it's a big step because it means they are closer to being able to maintain their own temps. The heat in the incubators is getting slowly turned down to room temperature as they adjust to clothes and blankets.
On the medical front, everyone is doing well. Ben got off the jaundice light today, so everyone is light free, and Ben will hopefully lose his nasal cannula tomorrow so that he'll be oxygen free like the others. Everyone is going up in feedings by 3mL a day, and Delia is off her IV so she is all tube feed. Michael will hopefully get rid of his tomorrow. And everyone is growing at a good pace:
Ben: 3lb 12 oz (+ 4 oz since birth)
Delia: 3lb 9 oz (+ 2 oz since birth)
Michael: 3lb 6 oz (+ 6 oz since birth)
Last night we did baths, very exciting. Ben and Michael got sponge baths because they still have IVs, but Delia got a big girl swaddle bath in the tub because she is IV free! Ben and Delia both loved their bath, except for getting their bottoms washed, and Michael really wasn't so hot on it at all. Maybe things will improve. I hope it gets easier because it took close to two hours to bathe everyone, and the nurse said that was faster than she expected. Good grief!
Side note - there are THREE NICU nurses from Ethan's home town of Oran (population 1,200). One girl several years older than Ethan, one who was in our nephew Zack's class, and the little sister of one of Ethan's good friends. Isn't that so strange, a town that small has that many nurses that specialize in babies? Works good for us :)
I also started "recreational" nursing yesterday, which entails going through the motions while they are getting tube fed. Ben isn't quite ready yet but Delia and Mike both did really well with it. We'll keep doing it about once a day for a while, no one has talked about when we move to the next step but that's OK. I'm content for now!
And to top off the day, everyone got clothes! They look a little silly because they are swimming in even the preemie clothes, but it's a big step because it means they are closer to being able to maintain their own temps. The heat in the incubators is getting slowly turned down to room temperature as they adjust to clothes and blankets.
On the medical front, everyone is doing well. Ben got off the jaundice light today, so everyone is light free, and Ben will hopefully lose his nasal cannula tomorrow so that he'll be oxygen free like the others. Everyone is going up in feedings by 3mL a day, and Delia is off her IV so she is all tube feed. Michael will hopefully get rid of his tomorrow. And everyone is growing at a good pace:
Ben: 3lb 12 oz (+ 4 oz since birth)
Delia: 3lb 9 oz (+ 2 oz since birth)
Michael: 3lb 6 oz (+ 6 oz since birth)
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Updated pictures
Michael is on top, Delia in the middle and Ben on bottom. And of course Ethan and I.
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